The IIHF World Women's Championship, officially the IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship, is the premier international tournament in women's ice hockey. It is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games program in 1924, in France. The women's tournament was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
The 2008 IIHF World Championship was played between May 2 and May 18, 2008 in the Canadian cities of Halifax and Quebec City (Quebec). The two venues were the Halifax Metro Centre and the Colisée Pepsi. The tournament was won by Russia which claimed its first gold medal since 1993.
Hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, home of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks, and at UBC Winter Sports Centre, home of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport's UBC Thunderbirds. Twelve teams competed in the men's event and eight teams competed in the women's event. Canada won both tournaments with victories against the United States, while Finland won both bronze games, however against different opponents.
The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from February 16 to February 28, 2010. Games were hosted at two venues – Canada Hockey Place and UBC Thunderbird Arena. These Olympics were the first to take place in a city with a National Hockey League team since the NHL players were introduced in 1998, which meant players on the Vancouver Canucks who were competing in the Olympics were playing in their home arena: Roberto Luongo for Canada, Ryan Kesler for the United States, Pavol Demitra for Slovakia, Sami Salo for Finland, Christian Ehrhoff for Germany, and Daniel and Henrik Sedin for Sweden.
The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned tournaments over the previous four years. The ranking is used to determine seedings and qualification requirements for future IIHF tournaments. The current leader in rankings is Canada in both men's and women's play.
The ice hockey competitions of the 2014 Winter Olympics were played at two venues, located 300 meters from the other, within the Olympic Park in Sochi, Russia. The Bolshoy Ice Dome, which seats 12,000, resembles a Fabergé egg. The Shayba Arena, seating 7,000, was supposed to be a moveable structure but eventually stayed in Sochi. Both venues are international sized.
Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2012 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The top nine teams in the world ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics. As with Canada in 2010, the IIHF made no mention of direct qualification for the host.
Qualification for the women's tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2012 IIHF Women's World Championships. The top five teams in the World Ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, Russia received an automatic berth as host, and all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining two spots.
Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics was determined through the IIHF World Ranking following the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The top eight teams in the World Ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, Italy received a berth as the host, while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics through qualifying tournaments.
The 2012 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship Division I was an international inline hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Division I tournament ran alongside the 2012 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship and took place between 1 and 7 June 2012 in Ingolstadt, Germany. The tournament was won by Slovakia who upon winning gained promotion to the 2013 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. While Bulgaria and New Zealand were relegated after finishing last and second last respectively.
The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics was held in Sochi, Russia between 12–23 February 2014. For the fifth consecutive Olympics, players from the National Hockey League participated. Twelve countries qualified for the tournament; nine of them did so automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation, while the other three took part in a qualification tournament.
The women's tournament in ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Provo and West Valley City, United States, from 11 to 21 February. Eight teams competed, seeded into two groups. Canada won the final by a score of 3–2 over the United States, who were awarded silver. The bronze medal game was won by Sweden with a 2–1 victory over Finland.
The 2013 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship Division I was an international inline hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Division I tournament ran alongside the 2013 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship and took place between 2 and 8 June 2013 in Dresden, Germany. The tournament was won by Great Britain who upon winning gained promotion to the 2014 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. While Bulgaria and Argentina were relegated after finishing last and second last respectively.
The ice hockey (hockey) competitions of the 2018 Winter Olympics were played at two venues within the Gangneung Coastal Cluster in Gangneung, South Korea. The Gangneung Hockey Centre, which seats 10,000, and the Kwandong Hockey Centre, which seats 6,000, were both originally scheduled to be completed in 2016 but appear to have been completed in early 2017. Both venues contain Olympic-sized rinks.
The 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship Division I was an international inline hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Division I tournament ran alongside the 2015 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship and took place between 5 and 11 July 2015 in Tampere, Finland. The tournament was won by Croatia who upon winning gained promotion to the 2017 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. While Austria and Bulgaria were relegated to the European Qualification after losing their placement round games along with Latvia who lost the relegation game against Hungary.
The men's tournament marked the second Olympic Games where the National Hockey League took a break to allow all its players the opportunity to play.
The ice hockey competitions of the 2022 Winter Olympics were played at two venues located in the Beijing cluster: the Beijing National Indoor Stadium, which seats 18,000, located at the Olympic Green area, and the Wukesong Arena, seating 10,000, with both arenas having been constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Qualification for the women's tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2020 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. The host along with the top six teams in the world ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics.
The women's tournament in ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held in Beijing, China between 3 and 17 February 2022. Ten countries qualified for the tournament; six of them did so automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation, one, China, automatically qualified as hosts, while the three others took part in a qualification tournament.
